Sept. 12, 2025
Contact: Sara Diedrich, diedrichs@missouri.edu
Kids adore him. Adults grow nostalgic around him. And during a tense game or a tough semester, he offers comic relief and comfort.
Truman the Tiger isn’t just the University of Missouri’s mascot. He’s the spirit of Mizzou brought to life, with four paws and a tail. You might not be able to high-five the university, but you can high-five Truman. He’s brave, bold, friendly and loyal — a playful symbol of everything Mizzou represents.
On Saturday, our beloved mascot turns 39, and he hasn’t aged a bit. That’s the magic of Truman. Just ask Christian Badger, BSBA ’06, Ben Marshall, BS Ag Ed ’06, or Trevor Lerit, BJ ’24, former students who proudly wore the suit.
“It’s a strange thing to say, but the moment you put on the suit, something shifts,” Lerit, who served as the mascot from 2020 to 2024, said. “You’re no longer just yourself; you’re representing the university, the athletic teams and the entire student body. You become that bold, friendly tiger everyone loves.”
Marshall, who played Truman from 2002 to 2006, said the experience was nothing short of transformative.
“Truman is bigger than any of us,” he said. “When I put on the Truman suit, I wasn’t Ben Marshall anymore, I was Truman the Tiger.”
Our favorite big cat made his debut on Sept. 13, 1986, during the Tigers’ game against Utah State. Former Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione enlisted Festus, Missouri, native Joe Turnbough and team to design the costume and bring to life the fearless, lovable personality of Truman the Tiger. Since then, Truman has become a campus legend, earning the title of “Best Mascot in the Nation” in 2004, 2014 and 2024.
In honor of the day Mizzou’s mascot roared onto the scene, three former Trumans reminisced about their years inside the suit and how the experience deepened their love for Mizzou and helped shape who they are today.
Call of the wild
A St. Louis native, Badger — who played Truman from 2003 to 2005 and today is senior brand manager at Nestlé in Arlington, Virginia — arrived on campus with an eye toward unique experiences. So, when he spotted a fellow student pulling a plush tiger suit out of the washer in his dorm’s basement laundry room, his curiosity was piqued. He struck up a conversation, and by the next semester, he was the one wearing the suit, having earned a spot as Truman the Tiger.
His first gig was the annual Fourth of July parade in St. Louis, an event no Truman had ever completed because of heat and humidity. Badger was determined to change history.
“I drank a gallon of Gatorade beforehand and made it all the way,” he said. “It was a good way to show I was up for the long, hot football games.”
Unlike Badger, Marshall knew as early as high school he wanted to be Truman. A third-generation Mizzou student, he was a freshman in college when he noticed Truman at an event and flagged him down.
“I shouted out: ‘Hey Truman, I’ve been looking for you. I want to be you,’” he said.
Since mascots don’t talk, Truman handed him a scrap of paper with a number scribbled on it. Marshall called and showed up for tryouts the next day. He was so excited that when he first pulled on the plush suit, he ducked into a bathroom at the Hearnes Center and snapped a picture of himself.
“I figured I wouldn’t get it, and I didn’t want to forget the moment,” Marshall said.
Turns out, he not only earned a coveted spot as Truman but also stayed a fifth year at Mizzou to complete a full four years as the mascot. Today, he and his wife, Kim, a former Mizzou cheerleader he met during his Truman days and proposed to on the sidelines during a Homecoming game, live on his family’s farm, in Jamestown, Missouri. They have three children.
Lerit, now a student recruitment specialist at Mizzou, never planned to try out for Truman. But when he received an unexpected email inviting him to an informational meeting about the mascot, the Kansas City native decided to attend. Two weeks later, after landing a spot as Truman, Lerit discovered a friend had signed him up for the email as a joke.
Tiger tales
Anyone who has ever stepped into the Truman suit on a sun-drenched September game day will tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart. Beyond his trademark tail spin and irresistible high five, Truman’s signature move is cranking out pushups in the endzone after every Tiger touchdown, a tradition that has tested the strength and stamina of more than one Truman over the years.
“If you were going to be Truman on a game day, you had to take care of your body,” Marhsall said. “The only thing that could take you down was the heat.”
He learned that lesson early, during one of his first football games, when Mizzou had run up the score by 42 points. Caught in the bathroom when the Tigers scored again, Marshall burst out in a full sprint, with 130 yards between him and the end zone. It was hot, and by the time he reached the goal post, he was seeing stars.
“I remember yelling to the ROTC guys on the sideline, ‘You’re gonna have to carry me off!’” Marshall said. “And sure enough, they did. I opened my eyes as they lifted me and all I saw was blue sky. For a second, I thought, ‘Am I in heaven?’ ”
Marshall — who completed the pushups — later learned fans thought it was a skit.
“I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” he said.
There were tender moments, too, times when brightening a fan’s day made every sweaty, exhausting minute feel worthwhile. Lerit formed a special connection with the family of a child with special needs who regularly attended home volleyball games. Their seats were high in the stands, far beyond the reach of t-shirts tossed to the crowd.
“I made it a point to climb up to see them, bring them a t-shirt and take a photo,” Lerit said. “It was something I’ll never forget.”
Badger agreed that Truman’s encounters with kids made wearing the suit so special.
“Even after I stopped being Truman, I’d find myself sitting near families at events and could see children light up when Truman came by,” he said, adding that young fans sometimes pulled his tail. “You learn little tricks to either avoid it or gently encourage better behavior. And they always wanted to know: ‘Can you talk?’ So, you’d play along, gesture dramatically and act confused. That was part of the fun.”
Once Truman, always Truman
Lerit still remembers the pull on his heart at the first Mizzou athletic event he attended not as Truman, but as an alumnus. It was a bittersweet moment, filled with both pride and a hint of sadness.
“I don’t think I truly realized how much Mizzou meant to me until that moment,” he said. “Being Truman made my four years as a Tiger extra special. It gave me a deeper love for Mizzou — a whole new appreciation that comes from seeing the campus and the entire state through Truman’s eyes.”
Badger often shares his experience as Truman as a memorable icebreaker, both at work and in everyday life.
“But when I reflect more deeply, I realize it’s about far more than that,” he said. “Playing Truman reminded me how important it is to let your guard down, enjoy the moment and be a little silly sometimes. It’s a way of not taking life — or yourself — too seriously. There’s something beautifully absurd about it: a person in a tiger suit, creating moments of magic and connection. It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to be part of that.”
For Marshall, the experience of being Truman often feels like yesterday.
“The places I went, the people I met and the things I got to do were only possible because I wore the suit,” he said. "The older I get, the more I find myself wanting to get back in the suit. And when it’s 100 degrees with 100% humidity? Strangely enough, I kind of miss that too."
